Eagle Scouts Garrett Fiss, Jared Dorsey, and Noah Fatica got to enjoy a moment with former Tampa mayor Dick Greco after receiving their Eagle Scout medals Sunday, June 8. The boys are from Troop 22, chartered to Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa. (Kim Fatica)

Three boys from my Tampa Boy Scout troop, including my son, just received their Eagle Scout medals at a special Court of Honor held Sunday on their behalf.

All three boys are high school scholars with an unweighted GPA of 4.0. All three are in AP or honors courses and are members of the National Honor Society. One graduated and received a scholarship to study at the University of South Florida.

All three boys are leaders in their school and in their Boy Scout troop, holding positions of responsibility that set them apart from the rest of their communities.

Two boys are entrepreneurs; one has a job he’s held responsibly for a year.

The three boys, combined, gave back more than 800 man-hours of community service in 2013 just from their Eagle Scout service projects alone. According to our government, the average youth volunteer contributes 29 hours of service in a year. Eagle Scouts across America gave 9.3 million man-hours to their communities in 2013.

All three boys have worked on conservation projects to help our environment and spent a considerable amount of time teaching younger boys how to respect and care for our planet’s natural beauty.

There are boys like these in your neighborhood you don’t even know about, with more yet to come. According to the BSA, in the Southern region alone, 15,407 boys became Eagle Scouts in 2013. That has been an upward trend since 2010.

After what I’ve seen in just these three young men alone, I feel quite confident that our future is in good hands. I have two others from my troop who already reached the summit as Eagles earlier this year, two who will complete their requirements this month, and four more who will finish a little later in 2014.

Yes, I’m bragging. So will every other adult Scout leader who knows the effort each of their Eagle Scouts put in to reaching Scouting’s highest honor.

After watching these boys grow to become men and responsible citizens, you finally realize that America is being left in capable hands.

About This Blog

Kim Fatica is a marketing professional and former Emmy Award-winning television photojournalist and operations manager originally from Cleveland, Ohio. He’s also a lifelong volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America, where he’s been involved with the program since he was a Cub Scout in 1970. He earned his Eagle Scout rank in 1976 and continued on in service as an adult leader, currently serving as an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 22 in Tampa.

He lived his dream of backpacking through the Sangre de Cristo mountain range with his son, Noah, at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. The 12-day trek during the summer of 2012 took them on a memorable 80-mile journey that went through areas near the historic Santa Fe Trail.

Kim earned his undergraduate degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Bowling Green State University and holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Florida Institute of Technology.